hashomer hatzair

Matzpen co-founder Moshé Machover, London, July 11, 2008. (Hossam el-Hamalawy/CC BY 2.0)

The last first Israeli anti-Zionist

Sixty years after co-founding the radical leftist group Matzpen, Moshé Machover reflects on the organization’s enduring legacy, the internal splits that led to its demise, and its lessons for today's anti-Zionist left.

By Ben Reiff November 24, 2022

Israeli Communist Party MK Moshe Sneh addresses a crowd at an election campaign event in Ramat Gan, October 30, 1959. (Fritz Cohen/GPO)

Nationalism beyond Zionism: Lessons from Jewish Communists in Palestine

A new book presents a political and cultural history of Jewish Communism in Palestine-Israel, and a model for a non-ethnocentric national identity.

By Shaul Magid February 20, 2022

Activists listen to a speech given by a Palestinian elder from Sarura, West Bank, May 19, 2017. (Ahmad al-Bazz/Activestills.org)

What happens when teaching diaspora Jews about occupation gets ‘too political’

An item on Israel’s top news program falsely accused a volunteer program that allows young diaspora Jews to directly engage with the occupation, of sending its members to clash with IDF soldiers, causing it to lose its main source of funding. Now one of ‘Achvat Amim’s organizers is speaking out: ‘I hadn’t experienced being lied about and mischaracterized in…

By Edo Konrad September 19, 2017

Latest

Israeli conscientious objector Atalya Ben-Abba. (Yona Benstein)

My sister is refusing to join the IDF — and I couldn’t be prouder

In our childhood we would fight imaginary monsters. Today the monster of the occupation is far stronger — yet Atalya continues to bravely fight on, and is willing to pay the price for her beliefs. By Amitai Ben-Abba Tomorrow, Tuesday February 6, my sister Atalya Ben-Abba will refuse to join the Israeli army and will…

By +972 Magazine February 5, 2017

Jaffa Port (Lisa Goldman)

From Jaffa to Beirut: Re-imagining a borderless Middle East

On a day trip through Israel, one truly understands how close the country is to the great cities of the Middle East. Unfortunately, distances here aren’t measured by kilometers, but rather by border crossings. By Leehee Rothschild Sometimes I think that the greatest tragedy of this place is not what it has become, but what…

By +972 Magazine June 11, 2014

Palestinian and Israeil flags (Activestills)

Beyond allegiances: Striving for a united Israel-Palestine

By striving for a solution which would allow for mutual access to holy sites, family, friends and water for all residents of this land, we can shed our allegiances to this-many-states or that-many-states and place our allegiance with self-determination for all peoples. By A. Daniel Roth Twenty, 10 or even five years ago I would have…

By +972 Magazine August 5, 2013

heads or tails (photo: youtube)

Either Or: Heads or tails

Is it better to be the best of the worst, or the worst of the best? For those of you who didn’t grow up going to Hashomer Hatzair North America or didn’t come across the game Either Or in another setting, this is how it goes: I present two options, you choose one. Kind of…

By Ori J. Lenkinski December 10, 2011